'The Vampire Diaries' Recap: Spirit Rally

Bonnie taps into the expression triangle to lower the veil, which brings back everyone from Alaric (yay!) to Kol (no!) to Jeremy (eh). But when Silas proves just how powerful he is, Bonnie needs a little help from a familiar face, Grams (double yay!), to fight back.

But to quote a different show, magic always has a price. And Bonnie must pay the ultimate one.

There's not a whole lot going on relationship-wise; we'll update what's happening with the various couples later. But first, let's dive into the recap.

Kill Katherine

Elena is crushing concrete blocks at Stefan's suggestion to work out her aggression. It's not working -- she still wants to take out Katherine. That's all she cares about. Not graduation or her friends (Caroline is wounded).

Elsewhere, Bonnie is dragging Katherine around to the three points of the expression triangle (where the massacres took place). She's linked the two of them together, so that Silas can't get to Katherine. Once she's "turned on" the three points, she'll use the tombstone to lower the veil enough to talk to her ancestor, Ketzia. Gotta say, we're with Kat on this one: Is this really going to work?

Huge gusts of wind strike the town, and the power goes out. Stefan and Damon figure out that Bonnie is lowering the veil that night, instead of waiting for the full moon, and she'll do it at the center of the expression triangle -- coincidentally, at the high school. Is "TVD" going all "Buffy" on us? Is Mystic Falls High School a Hellmouth?

Stefan teams up with Caroline to search inside for Bonnie, while Damon and Elena look outside. Mostly, she just wants to know where Katherine is. He thinks she needs to let it go. "Behind your rage there is a tidal wave of feelings," Damon says. "Killing Katherine is going to let it all in." Elena disagrees, so she stabs him in the stomach and runs off.

In caves below the school, Bonnie manages to lower the veil. First spirit to show up? Alaric! He appears to Damon and helps remove the stake from his stomach. But is it really Alaric? Or is it Silas playing tricks? Well, only the real Alaric knows that there's booze in locker 42. Yes, the drinking buddies are back together!

Bonnie only lowered the veil inside the triangle, so it isn't quite "ghostapalooza." Only certain spirits will show up. Oh, like youngest Original brother, Kol. He says hello to his dearest sister Rebekah before seeking his true object: revenge on the Gilbert family.

Also hunting? Elena. She finds Katherine lurking in the caves and stabs, then burns her. Since Katherine is linked to Bonnie, the witch feels it all, too. And if Elena kills Kat, she kills Bonnie! Just as she's about to do it, Stefan tackles her. Elena is pissed.

Face-off

Back at the Grill, Rebekah is cleaning Matt's shoulder of a glass shard that her brother nicely left there. When she goes to find the first aid kit, she finds Caroline shivering and maniacally cutting her own wrists.

But wait, isn't Caroline with Bonnie? No, that's Silas! He can appear in a different form to Bonnie; he can get inside her head after all! "You thought that you were more powerful than me?" he snarls, taking on the form of Stefan, Caroline, then Alaric. "I'm stronger than you can imagine."

He wants her to lower the veil completely, then kill him once he's taken the cure. She won't do it -- it will unleash the Kraken every dead supernatural being into the world. Silas/Alaric does something to cause Bonnie to start choking.

Silas leaves the cave and runs into Damon, who totally knows he's not Alaric. Meanwhile, Gram has coached Bonnie into breathing again and tells her that she can overcome Silas. Gram isn't a big fan of expression, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.

Bonnie comes in, eyes blazing, and starts to cast magic. She's turns Silas into stone! Damon tries to see Silas's true face, but the old vampire covers it up with his hands.

Meanwhile, Kol has found Elena and is kicking her butt. Just when he's about to rip her heart out, Jeremy shows up to save her! The reunited siblings hug, with Elena bawling her eyes out.

Elena starts to apologize to everybody -- Bonnie, Stefan, Damon -- but they tell her it's OK and to spend time with Jeremy before the veil is put back up.

Stefan goes to the Grill, where his new BFF Caroline wonders why he's so sad. Well, it's because he had hoped to see his old BFF … and what do you know, here's Lexi! He's missed her, but she notes that he's found a new blonde. And she's pretty cute. "Do. Not. Start," Stefan warns. But we want you to start! Please start!

Another set of buddies, Damon and the real Alaric, load stone Silas into the trunk of a car. They'll drop him into the ocean. But first, Alaric gives Damon something he found in Silas's pocket: the cure! Damon stares at it. What is he supposed to do with it? "Get the girl," Alaric smiles.

Back in the cave, Bonnie wants to do one last thing before raising the veil: bring back Jeremy. Grams warns her not to do it, but Bonnie is pretty full of herself at this point (well, she did defeat the oldest vampire ever). The black veins start going up her arms again, and Bonnie collapses.

With the veil still down, more spirits are coming to Mystic Falls. When Rebekah and Matt leave the Grill, she's horrified to see her ex-boyfriend, Alexander the Hunter. He's not alone -- the other Hunters are with him. And their sights are set on Rebekah!

Bonnie wakes up in a start. A sad-looking Grams tells her the spell was too much. Bonnie looks around the cave -- and sees her own body, crumpled up on the floor!

She gasps. "I'm dead!"

Only in Mystic Falls can someone utter those words.

So, let's recount where all the ''ships are at this week:

Elena/Damon: Not a lot of interaction, and she did stab him in the stomach.

Elena/Stefan: They shared a pretty significant look, but otherwise, not much going on.

Caroline/Stefan: Smart Lexi can see what they can't: These two are totally going to get together at some point.

Rebekah/Matt: She still wants him, and he's starting to warm up to her.

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